The big bad wolf in the little red cloak

The big bad wolf in the little red cloak

                The moon hangs high over our little valley, they have locked the gates for the night to help keep the wolf out, if only they knew that they had just locked themselves in with the monster there so feared. The wolf that they don’t understand so they fight, the creature who is only trying to help them but is made out to be an object of fear. I watch as it gleams across our little village, sitting on the roof I have the perfect view point. I only have a few minutes before the change takes over and I take a back seat for the show. I slowly climb down from the roof and dart off, unseen into the forest. No one will venture out of their homes until the moon starts to wane away, then they will start the night hunts. However, there is no wolf to hunt when they finally gather up their courage to leave their warm houses at night. Only the full moon holds the power over me, only the full moon can force the beast out, only the full moon can make me shed my red cloak and become a creature to be feared, only the moon can turn me into the wolf.

                “Red where are you?” My granny’s voice filters through the floor below me. I groan and roll over resulting in me falling off the bed and onto the cold wooden floor. I never remember coming home but for some reason I always end up tucked back in my bed nice and safe. “Red get up, I need your help this morning get your lazy butt out of bed and moving the suns up already.” I sigh and stand up rubbing my aching muscles; I need to see what damage I did anyway. I walk over to my two shelves of clothes and pull out a light weight spring dress in a light violet color, no one would see it anyway it would be covered by my red coat hence the name red. Not even I know what my real name is. When I was only a few months old they found me right outside the gates wrapped in a red silk cloak that never breaks or rips, granny took me and has raised me ever since no one knows who my parents are or why they left me alone out in the woods. What I want to know is what my parents were. There is no way they were completely human, or at least one of them had some kind of genetic mutation. “Red get down here now!” Panic laces my grandmothers’ tone causing me to slip on my shoes and slide down the railing, racing to her side. Her face is covered with unmistakable horror, the kind I’ve only seen a few times, when the wolf kills. I swallow the lump that has grown in my throat, I had ended a life, in my defense the only other people I killed were the town drunk and the town flirt who earlier in the month had tried to rape the mayors daughter.

                “Who is it this time?” My voice comes out in a hushed whisper; I’m terrified of the answer no one had done anything wrong recently, not with the threat of the wolf hanging over their heads.

                “Don’t worry about it red however we need water, I want you to go straight to the well and come back, no side trips and yes that means no stopping to talk to peter if you should happen across him.” She gives me a look that screams not to go against her orders this time. I nod like the good child she wishes I would be and scamper off to get the water pail. As I walk out the back door I grab my red cloak which no one besides granny has ever seen me without, I tie it around my neck, pull up the hood and skip my way to the shed to get the pail.  I have to find out who died and if I happen to see peter along the way to get water and he just happens to know the answer then I could kill two birds with one stone so to speak. And if he were to walk with me, well then I wouldn’t be stopping to talk to peter and no time would be lost. I have to find out whose life was cruelly ripped away from them without anyone knowing. I need to know who was out in the forest, who disobeyed the laws of the village and put themselves in danger by venturing out. The more I think about it the more I get this nagging felling in the back of my head like I both know the answer and don’t want to know the answer. A twig snaping behind me jolts me back to attention. I turn to see my grandma with her hands placed firmly at her hips and a frown etched a crossed her face showing her true feelings at me still being here and not yet set out for the task she assigned. I grimace and slowly back my way out of the back yard felling around for the gate but never taking my eyes off of granny. I give her a bright smile causing her to chuckle and shake her head before I turn around and start my journey to the well.